Forgive me Barry for I have sinned (and dropped in)

When I go out surfing, everyone is young around me.
There are NO old guys out there. I wonder where they all went?? Was I not invited to the party?? Do they not like my charisma??

 

Very true...everybody is young compared to Berry!!!

Lol...j/k Cuda. I hope I’m surfing when I’m 70 too!

 

Sounds like a dream....

I guess the one thing I hold on to personally is that from late 70s to present, I have been surfing south of Oregon Inlet and to this day, me and my friends/family can still find empty peaks to surf. But, surfing and hanging out at Maria’s back then must have been something. Not the greatest wave but I have caught it pretty good and would love to do so with just a couple of bros!

 

IDK, lots of old morons retire here!

 

I agree the wave is way over-rated. However, on larger days, 10-12 ft faces, the left starting at pistons can be a remarkable fast tube ride if the winds are gently offshore. That was my personal favorite there in that area of the island.
Now that "surfing tourism" has taken hold of the place in the last 10 years, it has lost appeal to me other than being an old stomping ground of mine.

 

Yep. skinny little f*ck too.

 

The left at the Pistons is always the first place I look when I'm there. Especially when the point is crowded, which is pretty much always.

 

As a goofy footer, I enjoy the left as well.

 

How old are you barry? I surf with alot of guys in the 60-65 range. Some are really spectacular surfers. Super impressive and inspiring to see guys still going hard at that age with the stoke of a grom. And honestly with the way some of them surf, it wouldn't surprise me of they go into the 70s

 

I will be 68 this coming Sunday.

 

Ahhh your not that old! Don't sell yourself short! Happy early birthday!

 

I've always heard- The older the bull, the harder the horn!!
Happy BDay Barry

 

Feliz Cumpleanos, Papi Chulo

 

I don't know why but this totally reminds me of a story a few years back. I think i told it on here once.

Crowded small summer morning. Normally you get the morning crew but I'm seeing dudes iv never seen before. It's packed. Normally id paddle to a less crowded peak but this is one of those days where id be really sacrificing wave quality.

I start paddling for a wave. From behind me comes a SUP paddling for the same wave. He hasn't caught the wave, but runs over my arm. No sorry. No nothing. I got PISSED. Guy was a complete kook, never seen him before, had plenty of room to paddle without running me over, and no sorry. No are you alright. Nothing. Granted it didn't hurt at all but still, common curiosity. Well at this point i was like screw this sesh. I followed this guy everywhere growling and barking like a dog. I have no idea why. He did not catch another wave. He would paddle away from me and id follow "grrrrrrrrr!". Eventually he paddled way the hell down the beach. Never seen him again.

 

I'm not that far behind you, spend equal time @ the gym to equal time in the water. My shortest board is 9'6" and you're still riding short boards!

Happy Birthday Barry as you have earned it .....

 

Started surfing in the mid '70s in Cape May... Just a bunch of hippies surfed there back then. They never gave me a hard time because they could see how scared I was of them... that was enough to keep me at a distance! They got old and either OD'd or quit or moved out of town. We got older and became the next generation of CM surfers... but still, very few conflicts because there wasn't very many of us. CM, Wildwood, Stone Harbor... all wide open.

Annual trips to PR seemed to change every year. This was in the early 80s. More and more crowded... but the wave was the same. Went from sleeping in the car, to staying in cheap hotels... from surfing Rincon exclusively, to surfing anywhere BUT Rincon... except on the biggest, best days.

By the time I was in college... now the late '80s... Monmouth County was my go-to, Manasquan Inlet in particular... and for the first time, surfed in a crowd. And man, that wave was GOOD. And there were LOCALS... and they were GOOD. As the new face in the lineup, I was relegated to "the ones that swing wide" for years. Eventually, I became accepted and got some really memorable days at what was, at the time, the best wave around. Then I moved to Michigan.

Four years later, I came back to Monmouth County and everything had changed. And it's still sort of the same... that is, nothing was the same, and never will be. Now I started seeing conflicts. Fights... busted boards... general Jerzy D!ckhead behavior. I just dealt with it, and did what I had to do at the time... which was pretty ugly looking back.

In my mid 50s now... thank God that's all behind me. Now I just enjoy what there is, for what it is.

 

Just had a buddy return from a trip down to Santa Cruz to see his folks, he was born and raised there.

He told me he couldn't think of living and surfing there again, the lineups had a minimum of 40 people.

One thing that stood out to him was the striking similarity of "surfers" that we have in the PNW; that is, parking lots full of chicks and middle aged guys with brand new designer wetsuits and expensive Channel Island popouts being unloaded from Range Rovers and other high dollar grocery getters.

Yes, most of them can barely surf.

Instead of being rugged and individualistic, surfing has gravitated to the well-heeled-but-wannabe-extreme urban set.

Anyone else out there experiencing this nauseating phenomenon?

 

Oh, yeah. Has been that way for years here in New England, and it is getting worse. And therein lies the hope--that signals "fad", which sooner or later, as ALL of them do, fade away into history. Same thing has happened with motorcycles - everyone "had to have" a Harley, and Angels type clothing to ride. But now, Harley Davidson is having problems selling enough bikes, profits going down, etc. Fad is fading--the yuppie Hells Angel isn't so tough anymore, and their tattoos are fading into ugliness. Soon to happen with surfing. Next fad?? Extreme tidily-winks?? Pick-up sticks?? Resurgence of hula-hoops?? Canasta?? Just the fact that surfboards makers are reshuffling shapes to attract customers is a sure sign--who sees kane gardens dovetails anymore?? Gone.